Fall 2008 Issue
Q&A the President
Charles Stokes, president and CEO of the CDC Foundation, recently shared his thoughts on the value of linking CDC with corporate partners to improve health.
Why would a corporation want to work with CDC?
CDC Foundation partners represent a diverse array of organizations that recognize the importance of promoting and protecting health – the health of their employees and customers and the families in the communities where they operate. Working with CDC gives corporations unparalleled opportunities to sit at a table with world-renowned scientists and discuss the best approach to combining CDC science with private-sector resources and expertise to fight a complex health issue... and then be a part of making it happen.
What role does the CDC Foundation play in these partnerships?
The CDC Foundation brings the right people to the table. CDC is a large and complex agency. When we begin exploring opportunities for a partnership, the CDC Foundation makes sure we have the right CDC scientists and leaders involved, working across CDC’s many disciplines and health focus areas. Then we fill the chairs on the other side of the table with the appropriate representatives and experts from a potential corporate partner. Sitting elbow to elbow, the group can then have a meaningful dialogue about common goals and the best way to achieve them. Drawing from our experience with previous partnerships, the Foundation can then recommend specific implementation strategies or additional partners that might strengthen the project.
Once a program is underway, the CDC Foundation stays actively involved to ensure a “win-win” situation for all our partners. While safeguarding CDC’s commitment to science, the Foundation ensures programs stay on-track and that private sector partners receive timely and detailed reports on how their resources were used and what they helped accomplish.
Can you describe an ideal public-private partnership?
I think the gold standard is when CDC, using all of its best science, decides that there’s a problem and that something needs to be done, and, simultaneously, there’s a corporation in the private sector whose work or philanthropic interests align with that need. What we’ve learned after 14 years of bringing organizations together is that the best public-private partnerships really are the best of both worlds.
Read more articles from Fall 2008 issue of theFrontLine newsletter